System and method for improved synchronization between a server and a client

ABSTRACT

A system and method for improved client and server communications, more particularly, an improved protocol that may be used for communication between a client and a server, such as in an email environment. Many features are provided for improved communications. An email server may provide the best message body available for an email message, may transfer an entire data object if requested property or properties are not well defined within the data object, may provide progress data for use in tracking download progress, and may send error information for a data object having an error. Email changes may be optimized at an email server component, even if the email changes occurred at another email server component. An email server may maintain a table of changes that occur to folders at an associated data store, and may notify a subscribed email client component of changes that occur in the table.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. application No. 60/437,869,attorney docket number 220635, filed Jan. 3, 2003, entitled “SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR IMPROVED CLIENT SERVER COMMUNICATIONS,” and incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention pertains generally to computer networks, and moreparticularly, to methods for communicating between client and serverapplications such as email applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Email has become an important method for communicating. Email systemstypically include a server component (e.g., Microsoft Exchange Server)and a client component (e.g., Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft OutlookExpress). These components are typically software applications that areconfigured to execute on computing devices (e.g., servers, PCs, laptops,and PDAs).

Often, in order to facilitate communications, a client and server, suchas client component and a server component of an email system, agree ona communications protocol. The protocol sets out the rules defining theexpected behavior of each party during communications, for example, theexpected sequence of request and response. Sophisticated protocols haverules for handling unexpected behavior.

As client and server components are improved, the improved versions aredistributed to end users. In order to take advantage of new componentfeatures and network features, it is often the case that a newcommunications protocol is invented. Where the installed base of servercomponents is significant, a client component may have the ability tocommunicate, via a set of protocols, with selected previous versions ofserver components.

It is sometimes the case that later protocols build upon earlierprotocols rather than replacing them wholesale. In such a case, a laterprotocol may be built of protocol elements which can be enabled ordisabled in order to simulate earlier protocols. Likewise, where theinstalled base of client components is significant, a server componentmay have the ability to communicate, via a protocol, with selectedprevious versions of client components.

The invention provides such a system and method. These and otheradvantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features,will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system and method for improved clientand server communications. More particularly, the invention is directedto an improved protocol that may be used for communication between aclient and a server. The invention has particular relevance to an emailserver environment, but the features described herein may be utilized inother client and server networks.

In accordance an aspect of the present invention, email changes may beoptimized at an email server component, even if the email changesoccurred at another email server component. A first email servercomponent noncontiguous first data regarding email message changes seenby an email client component. A second email server component maintainssecond data regarding email message changes seen by the email clientcomponent. The second email server component then optimizes thenoncontiguous first data.

In accordance another aspect of the present invention, an email servercomponent may maintain a table of changes that occur to folders at anassociated data store, and may notify a subscribed email clientcomponent of changes that occur in the table. A table is maintainedregarding changes made to a plurality of folders containing email dataobjects. An email client component subscribes to the table, and inresponse to a change in the table, a notification is sent to the emailclient component.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, theemail server component may suppress notifications to an email clientcomponent that caused a change to the table. The email server componentmay receive an indication requesting that a notification not be sent toa first email client component in response to the change, and inresponse to the change and the indication, send a notification regardingthe change to all subscribers of the table other than the first emailclient component.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of computers connected by a network.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary computer systemusable to implement an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram depicting an environment with multipleversions of both email client components and email server components.

FIG. 4 is a protocol diagram showing an example of a protocolnegotiation procedure between an email client component and an emailserver component.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example email network in whichemail client components and email server components have fixed sizecommunication buffers.

FIG. 6A is a protocol diagram showing an example protocol requiring tworequest-response cycles to complete a fast transfer operation.

FIG. 6B is a protocol diagram showing an example protocol requiring asingle request-response cycle to complete a fast transfer operation.

FIG. 7A is a flowchart depicting an example procedure for sending anemail message body to an email client component.

FIG. 7B is a flowchart depicting a procedure for sending an emailmessage body to an email client component in accordance with an aspectof the present invention.

FIG. 8A is a sequence diagram illustrating a full item transfer mode.

FIG. 8B is a sequence diagram illustrating a headers first transfermode.

FIG. 8C is a sequence diagram illustrating a headers only transfer mode.

FIG. 8D is a sequence diagram illustrating an exception to a headersfirst or a headers only transfer mode.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an email client component's homeemail server component being changed over time.

FIG. 10 is a protocol diagram showing an example protocol forsynchronizing email folders between an email client component and anemail server component.

FIG. 11A is a flowchart depicting an example procedure for optimizingpart of a stateblob.

FIG. 11B is a flowchart depicting a procedure for optimizing part of astateblob in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an email folder hierarchy.

FIG. 13 is a protocol diagram showing an example protocol forsynchronizing and maintaining synchronization of an email message storein accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 14A is a protocol diagram showing an example protocol forcommunicating error information at the ROP level.

FIG. 14B is a protocol diagram showing an example protocol forcommunicating error information on a per message basis in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 15A is a flowchart depicting a procedure for generating errorinformation at the ROP level.

FIG. 15B is a flowchart depicting a procedure for generating errorinformation on a per message basis in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention.

FIG. 16A is a protocol diagram showing an example protocol for carryingout a fast transfer operation.

FIG. 16B is a protocol diagram showing an example protocol for providingprogress information while carrying out a fast transfer operation inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 17A is a flowchart depicting a procedure for streaming out a set ofmessages.

FIG. 17B is a flowchart depicting a procedure for streaming out a set ofmessages along with progress information in accordance with an aspect ofthe present invention.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of multiple email client components beingnotified as the result of a change to the same data object at an emailserver component.

FIG. 19A is a flowchart depicting a procedure for notifying multiplesubscribers.

FIG. 19B is a flowchart depicting a procedure for notifying multiplesubscribers in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart depicting a procedure for providing an emailmessage that uses a desired code page in accordance with an aspect ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Prior to proceeding with a description of the various embodiments of theinvention, a description of the computer and networking environment inwhich the various embodiments of the invention may be practiced will nowbe provided. Although it is not required, the present invention may beimplemented by programs that are executed by a computer. Generally,programs include routines, objects, components, data structures and thelike that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. The term “program” as used herein may connote a single programmodule or multiple program modules acting in concert. The term“computer” as used herein includes any device that electronicallyexecutes one or more programs, such as personal computers (PCs),hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-basedprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, tabletPCs, mainframe computers, consumer appliances having a microprocessor ormicrocontroller, routers, gateways, hubs and the like. The invention mayalso be employed in distributed computing environments, where tasks areperformed by remote processing devices that are linked through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programsmay be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

An example of a networked environment in which the invention may be usedwill now be described with reference to FIG. 1. The example networkincludes several computers 10 communicating with one another over anetwork 11, represented by a cloud. Network 11 may include manywell-known components, such as routers, gateways, hubs, etc. and allowsthe computers 10 to communicate via wired and/or wireless media. Wheninteracting with one another over the network 11, one or more of thecomputers may act as clients, servers or peers with respect to othercomputers. Accordingly, the various embodiments of the invention may bepracticed on clients, servers, peers or combinations thereof, eventhough specific examples contained herein do not refer to all of thesetypes of computers.

Referring to FIG. 2, an example of a basic configuration for a computeron which all or parts of the invention described herein may beimplemented is shown. In its most basic configuration, the computer 10typically includes at least one processing unit 14 and memory 16. Theprocessing unit 14 executes instructions to carry out tasks inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. In carrying outsuch tasks, the processing unit 14 may transmit electronic signals toother parts of the computer 10 and to devices outside of the computer 10to cause some result. Depending on the exact configuration and type ofthe computer 10, the memory 16 may be volatile (such as RAM),non-volatile (such as ROM or flash memory) or some combination of thetwo. This most basic configuration is illustrated in FIG. 2 by dashedline 18. Additionally, the computer may also have additionalfeatures/functionality. For example, computer 10 may also includeadditional storage (removable 201 and/or non-removable 202) including,but not limited to, magnetic or optical disks or tape. Computer storagemedia includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removablemedia implemented in any method or technology for storage ofinformation, including computer-executable instructions, datastructures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage mediaincludes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, CD-ROM,digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical storage, magneticcassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magneticstorage devices, or any other medium which can be used to stored thedesired information and which can be accessed by the computer 10. Anysuch computer storage media may be part of computer 10.

Computer 10 preferably also contains communications connections 205 thatallow the device to communicate with other devices. A communicationconnection is an example of a communication medium. Communication mediatypically embody computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as acarrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any informationdelivery media. By way of example, and not limitation, the term“communication media” includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. The term “computer-readable medium”as used herein includes both computer storage media and communicationmedia.

Computer 10 may also have input devices 204 such as a keyboard, mouse,pen, voice input device, touch input device, etc. Output devices 203such as a display 20, speakers, a printer, etc. may also be included.All these devices are well known in the art and need not be discussed atlength here.

The present invention is directed to a system and method for improvedclient and server communications, and more particularly is directed toan improved protocol that may be used for communication between a clientand a server. The invention has particular relevance to an email serverenvironment, but the features described herein may be utilized in otherclient and server networks. For ease of description, however, theinvention is described with reference to a client/server emailenvironment.

The present invention may be implemented in a client/server environmenthaving two or more versions of client applications or components, and/ortwo or more versions of server applications or components. To this end,FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram showing multiple versions of bothclient and server components in a network email environment. In general,the client and server components are configured so that they arebackwardly compatible. That is, a client component is capable ofcommunicating with recent and legacy versions of server components, andvice versa. A set of protocols are established to communicate betweenthe multiple versions. The set of protocols may constitute severaldifferent protocols, each being self-contained. Alternatively, a set ofprotocol components may be available, and particular components are usedto configure particular protocols within the protocol set.

In any event, in the network email environment shown in FIG. 3, a mostrecent version email client component 303 communicates best with a mostrecent version email server component 306 using a protocol 307. However,the most recent email server component 306 is also capable ofcommunicating with selected previous version email client components,for example, email client component 302 and email client component 301,using other protocols (e.g., protocols 308 and 309 in FIG. 3) in aprotocol set. Email client component 303 is also able to communicatewith selected previous version email server components, for example,email server component 305 and email server component 304, usingprotocols such as the protocols 310 and 311.

Generally, as used herein, for the purposes of describing the protocolof the present invention, a “most recent” email (server or client)component, or a most recent version of an email (server or client)component, is a server or client component that is aware of the newfeature or features being described, and can utilize, implement, and/oract on those features. Although the terms are used throughout thisdocument to describe client and server components that are aware of thevarious aspects of the protocol of the present invention, the terms alsoinclude components that are aware of only the particular aspect beingdescribed, or more than one aspect being described. Likewise, a“previous” email component or previous version of an email component isa component that is not aware of, and cannot act upon the aspects of theprotocol of the present invention.

A protocol negotiation procedure is often used to establish a protocolbetween a client and a server (e.g., the most recent version emailserver component 306 and the most recent version email client component303). Although such protocol negotiations are known, a brief descriptionof a protocol negotiation procedure between email client component 401(FIG. 4) and email server component 402 (also FIG. 4) is provided forthe benefit of the reader. Early in a communication session betweenemail client component 401 and email server component 402, email clientcomponent 401 sends email server component 402 a message 403 thatincludes client version information, for example, in the form of aclient component version stamp. Email server component 402 responds tomessage 403 with message 404 that includes server version information,for example, in the form of a server component version stamp.

The client and server version information may be used in a variety ofways to attempt to establish communication between the email clientcomponent 401 and the email server component 402. For example, versioninformation may be used to select a suitable protocol for continuedcommunications, or to determine if further communications are evenpossible. In establishing a protocol, version information may be used toenable and/or disable specific available protocol aspects or components,for example.

An email server component may receive and process requests from multipleemail client components in parallel. Where a single client is shown,unless explicitly stated otherwise, it is merely to simplify the figuresand accompanying explanation.

The email network of the present invention utilizes request and responseexchanges to pass queries and data between client and server componentsin the network. In practice, the performance of a protocol may beeffected by the underlying communications network transport mechanismused to implement communications between clients and servers in an emailnetwork. For example, in an email network that uses remote procedurecalls (RPCs) as the underlying communications network transportmechanism, it may be much more efficient to make a single remoteprocedure call of larger size (e.g., 32 KB) than to make several remoteprocedure calls of smaller size (e.g., 2 KB). One way known to improveperformance in such an email network is to buffer multiple requestsand/or responses for transmission in a single remote procedure call.

As an example, FIG. 5 shows a request and response exchange between anemail client component 501 and an email server component 502. The emailclient component 501 and the email server component 502 each have fixedsized communication buffers 503, 504, 505 and 506. The buffers 503, 504,505 and 506 are reserved areas of memory for temporarily holding data.Email client component 501 begins a request-response cycle by fillingbuffer 503 with one or more sub-requests or remote operations (ROPs)before transmitting the contents of the buffer 503 to buffer 504.

After being received in the buffer 504, each ROP is processed in orderby email server component 502 and the corresponding result written tobuffer 505. Each ROP does produce some result. The result may includedata requested by email client component 501, for example, a particularset of email messages. Email server component 502 monitors buffer 505and when it is nearly full (e.g., less than 8 KB remaining), emailserver component 502 writes any unprocessed ROPs to the end of buffer505 and transmits buffer 505 to buffer 506. Email client component 501then begins a new request-response cycle by writing unprocessed ROPs tobuffer 503 for resubmission to email server component 502 when buffer503 becomes full again.

The size of a response is typically larger on average than the size of arequest. For this reason, the size of response buffers 505 and 506 aretypically configured to be larger than the size of request buffers 503and 504. In one embodiment of the invention, the optimal size of theresponse buffers 505 and 506 was determined to be 96 KB for a size of 32KB for request buffers 503 and 504, a ratio of 3 to 1. In oneembodiment, the email client component is capable of configuring thesize of any of the buffers 503, 504, 505 and 506.

Some email networks that utilize buffers, for example the email networkshown in FIG. 5, may employ a fast transfer mode between an email clientcomponent and an email server component. Fast transfer mode includesrequests, such as ROPs, by a client that are divided into at least twokinds: requests that result in an initialization of a fast transfer datasource at the server, and requests that result in the efficient transferof data from the fast transfer data source to the client. The fasttransfer data source may be, for example, a database table. The fasttransfer data source serves as a ready temporary store of data thatenables later requests for the data to be serviced with less delay thanwould otherwise be possible. Sometimes the second kind of fast transfermode request seeks to achieve efficient transfer of data by explicitlyspecifying the size of the response, for example, the size of theresponse may be set to the size of the entire client receive buffer lessresponse overhead.

FIG. 6A shows a fast transfer operation having at least tworequest-response cycles. In a first request 601 a ROP (e.g., FXPrepare)initializes a fast transfer data source on server 502. At the server,only FXPrepare is processed (i.e., the fast transfer data source isinitialized) and its result is returned in a first response 602. In asecond request 603 a ROP (e.g., FXGetBuffer) requests the server to fillthe buffer 505 from the fast data source. The server empties the fastdata source into the buffer, and returns the result in a second response604. If the output buffer 505 for the email server component fillsbefore the fast data source is emptied, additional FXGetBuffer ROPs maybe required.

FIG. 6B shows a fast transfer operation having only a singlerequest-response cycle. In a first request 605, both FXPrepare andFXGetBuffer are processed by email server component 502 and the resultsof both operations are returned in first response 606. The result ofFXPrepare is available to FXGetBuffer at email server component 502because part of each buffer 503, 504, 505 and 506 is explicitly definedas a shared data table. It is desirable to reduce the number ofrequest-response cycles because it results in a more efficient transferof data. A fast transfer operation having more than only a singlerequest-response cycle may occur when buffer 505 is too full to hold theresult of an FXGetBuffer ROP.

It will be appreciated that the ROPs of FIGS. 6A and 6B and like figuresthroughout this application are schematic in that they may beimplemented in practice by a series of ROPs, unless specifically statedotherwise.

Typically, the size of a ROP result is different from the size of a ROPrequest. It is not always possible to predict the size of a ROP result.When data compression techniques are used to reduce the size of a ROPresult, it is even more difficult to predict the size of a ROP result.Not being able to predict the size of a ROP result can prevent manualtuning of a protocol to minimize the number of request-response cyclesrequired to complete particular client operations, for example, toensure that all new messages are downloaded to the client in a singlerequest-response cycle. Manual tuning of a protocol includes manuallyconfiguring the sequence and/or size of protocol requests; responsesand/or ROPs.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the number ofrequest-response cycles is automatically minimized by specifying thatkey ROPs (e.g., FXGetBuffer) are free from the requirement to predictthe size of their result. Instead, such ROPs are processed by emailserver component 502 until the limit of buffer 505 (which is the same asbuffer 506) is reached.

As an example, in an environment that includes multiple versions ofemail server components, separate ROPs may be defined for previousversion server components and recent version server components. Therecent versions are free from the requirement to predict the size oftheir result. The characteristics for these ROPs are set forth in thefollowing table:

ROP that may be used ROP that may be used by a by a protocol forprotocol for communicating with communicating with most previous versionservers recent version servers ROP ID FXGetBuffer FXGetBuffer ParametersRequired size: the size Required size: is set to a used in that theserver must value beyond the maximum multiple reserve in its outputexpected by the previous modes buffer. version, for example, to a valuegreater than 32 KB. This signals the server to look for the new sizelimit parameter. New n/a Size limit: informs the server parameters ofthe limit up to which the server may fill its output buffer.

The ROPs for previous version server components are similar inconstruction to existing, prior art ROPs. That is, the ROPs predict anddictate a size in the output buffer (e.g., send buffer 505) that must bereserved for holding a response. In contrast, the dictated size for theoutput buffer for a most recent version of a server component is notpredicted, but instead is set to a value beyond the maximum expected bythe previous version server components, for example, to a value greaterthan 32 KB. The fact that the size of the output buffer is definedbeyond a value expected by the server component signals the servercomponent to look for a new size limit parameter, which may be, forexample, a filling of the output buffer for the server component. Thesecharacteristics automatically minimize the number of request-responsecycles, with only a small increase in the complexity of an email servercomponent that processes the ROPs

Note that the order of parameters shown in the table above and in liketables throughout this application do not necessarily correlate with theorder that, for example, the parameters are transmitted over the networkor stored in memory by either an email client component or an emailserver component, unless accompanied by an explicit statement to thecontrary. In addition, unchanged parameters may be omitted for the sakeof clarity.

In an email network, one of the typical duties of a protocol is toachieve the transfer of data objects, for example, email messages,between email client components and email server components. Furtherexamples of such data objects include email folders which may containemail messages and other data objects, and folder associated information(FAI) data objects which may, for example, contain rules for processingemail messages, or define how the data objects contained by a folderwill be displayed. Data objects may be opaque to an email clientcomponent; that is, an email client component may have no means ofinterpreting the contents of the data object. Alternatively, dataobjects may be composed of named properties, for example, an emailmessage may comprise properties named “to,” “from,” “subject,”“importance,” “body 1,” “body 2,” “body 3,” “attachment 1,” “attachment2,” and so on.

One advantage of email networks where data objects may be composed ofnamed properties over email networks where data objects are opaque isthe potential to improve protocol performance because of the ability ofa protocol to transfer only part of a data object. Having namedproperties permits particular properties of the data object to betransmitted without transmitting the entire data object.

For example, an email message may be composed of a set of headerproperties and a set of body properties. The needs of an email clientcomponent may be such that a protocol may transfer the header propertiesfirst and then the body properties later or not at all. This featurepermits a user to view the header information for several messages priorto the entirety of all the messages being downloaded. Using thisfeature, a more fine-grained control over bandwidth utilization may beobtained by the client component, which may positively effect protocolperformance. In addition, a client component may use this feature toresult in lower bandwidth utilization (for example, bodies may bedownloaded for only selected headers), which is particularly desirablein low bandwidth environments.

The performance of the protocol does not necessarily increase if theserver component is configured to send body and header properties in twoseparate request-response cycles (i.e., one each for the header and thebody). For example, if the needs of the email client component were suchthat it required both header and body properties at the same time, thenthe performance of the protocol might be decreased verses a situationwhere a single request-response cycle could retrieve both the header andthe body. Thus, the simple act of enabling data objects to be composedof named properties is not itself enough to automatically result inimproved protocol performance. Achieving improved protocol performancedoes depend on the choice of properties that may make up a data objectand how they may be used by a protocol. That choice may depend on anumber of factors including the needs of most recent and previousversion email client components, and the needs of most recent andprevious version email server components. Examples of email clientcomponent needs include satisfying different levels of urgency for thedisplay of different information and complying with preferences set byan email client component user. Examples of email server component needsinclude efficient storage and retrieval of data and efficient processingof protocol requests.

Conventional prior art email environments utilize data objects that maybe composed of named properties, for example, an email message that mayinclude a header set and a body set of named properties so that the twosets may be requested and/or processed separately. Another prior artexample is an email message where the body set of named propertiesincludes multiple versions of the email message body, for example, inmultiple email message formats such as plain text, hypertext mark-uplanguage (HTML), rich text format (RTF) and so on. In this situation,prior art email server components may respond to a protocol request forthe body of the email message in a number of ways. The lowest complexityresponse may be to send all versions of the email message body but thisresponse may result in increased bandwidth utilization.

FIG. 7A depicts part of a procedure that a previous (prior art) versionemail server component does use to respond in this situation. In step701, the email server component examines the format of each emailmessage body. If one of the formats is a predetermined standard format(e.g., RTF), then the procedure moves to step 703 and the standardformat email message body is sent to the requesting email clientcomponent. If none of the formats is a predetermined standard format,then step 701 branches to step 702 where one of the email message bodyversions is converted to the standard format. The subprocedure depictedby FIG. 7A may also be used when there is only a single version of anemail message body but the email message body may not be in a standardformat that is required by a protocol.

FIG. 7B depicts part of a procedure used by a most recent version emailserver component in accordance with the present invention. In step 704,a protocol request that results in this subprocedure being used by anemail server component is examined for a BEST_BODY flag. The flag inthis example and the other flags used herein are used to the emailserver component that the email client component is a most recentversion and desires to implement the function associated with the flag.Other indications may be used. For example, the function may beimplemented by default if a most recent email client component isdetected.

In any event, if the BEST_BODY flag is not found, then step 704 branchesto step 701, and continues as described with reference to FIG. 7A.

If the flag is found, the procedure moves to step 705, where the bestemail message body is selected for sending to the requesting emailclient component. If there is only a single email message bodyassociated with the requested email message, then it is the best. Ifthere are several email message bodies available, for example, withdifferent formats, then the email server component chooses the best fromamong them according to, for example, a predetermined ranking of emailmessage body formats (e.g., RTF, HTML, plain text). The process thenproceeds to step 703, where the chosen email message body is sent to theemail client component. In this embodiment, the email client componentmay be capable of displaying multiple email message body formats thusfreeing the email server component from the requirement to convert emailmessage bodies to a standard format. In addition, the email clientcomponent may convert the best email message body to a different format,if desired.

Because the email server component is relieved of the task of convertingemail message bodies, the present invention provides improvedperformance. In addition, a most recent version email server componentmay respond to protocol requests from a previous version email clientcomponent with only a moderate increase in complexity.

ROPs may be used to achieve the replication of an email folder betweenan email server component and an email client component. A request tosynchronize a folder may be made, for example, by a SynchFolder ROP.Where an email client component is capable of displaying non-standardemail message body formats, it may set the BEST_BODY flag in theSynchFolder ROP to indicate that the email server component may selectthe best format from among the available email message bodies, ratherthan requiring the server to return an email message body in a standardformat. An email server component may properly process ROPs both withand without the BEST_BODY flag with only a moderate increase incomplexity. ROPs for communicating with previous version and most recentversion servers may include, for example, the characteristics set out inthe table below:

ROP that may be used ROP that may be used by a by a protocol forprotocol for communicating with communicating with most previous versionservers recent version servers ROP ID SynchFolder SynchFolder Newparameters n/a BEST_BODY flag: if set, the email server componentchooses the best email message body to send to the email clientcomponent. Conversion of the email message body to a predeterminedstandard format is unnecessary.

FIGS. 8A-8C show several different existing modes of transferring a setof email messages between an email server component and an email clientcomponent. For each mode, each email message has named propertiesincluding a header set and a body set, and several email messages arecontained in a folder. FIG. 8A illustrates a full item transfer mode.The illustration shows a first email message header 801 beingtransferred and then a first email message body 802 before a secondemail message header 803 and then a second email message body 804 and soon until the set of email messages has been transferred. FIG. 8Billustrates a headers first transfer mode. In this mode, a first emailmessage header 805 is transferred and then a second email message header806 and so on until all the email message headers have been transferredand only then is a first email message body 807 transferred and then asecond email message body 808 and so on until the set of email messageshas been transferred. FIG. 8C illustrates a headers only transfer mode.As the name suggests, only the email message headers 809 are transferredin response to a request to transfer a set of email messages. Emailmessage bodies 810 will only be transferred in response to an additionalexplicit request. In any of these modes, the transfer sequence may betemporarily interrupted by a higher priority email client componentrequest, for example, for a particular email message body.

An email folder is an example of a target for a request to transfer aset of email messages. However, an email folder may contain data objectsother than email messages. As discussed above, transfer modes are oftendefined with reference to email message headers and email messagebodies, such as the headers first and headers only transfer modes. Insuch transfer modes, an attempt to transfer data objects for which aheader set of named properties and/or a body set of named properties maynot be well defined may result in protocol failure. One aspect of theinvention avoids this situation by providing that data objects for whicha header and/or body set of named properties is not well defined, mayalways be transferred in whole rather than in part. This embodiment maybe illustrated by example with FIG. 8D. In this example, transferalbetween an email server component and an email client component may beoccurring in a headers only mode. Accordingly, a first email messageheader 811 is transferred and then data object 812 becomes a nextcandidate for transferal. The header set of named properties is not welldefined for a data object 812, such as FAI, so the entire data object istransferred. A next candidate for transferal does have a well definedheader set of named properties (i.e., the candidate data object doespossess all the named properties explicitly defined by the email clientcomponent as belonging to the header set of named properties) and soonly an email message header 813 is transferred.

An example of one way to implement this aspect of the present inventionis by using a flag, such as IGNORE_MODE_ON_FAI, that may be included ina synchronization ROP, such as SynchFolder ROP described above. An emailserver component may properly process ROPs both with and without aIGNORE_MODE_ON_FAI flag with only a moderate increase in complexity.ROPs may include the characteristics set out in the table below toachieve the replication of an email folder between an email servercomponent and an email client component:

ROP that may be used by a ROP that may be used by a protocol forprotocol for communicating with communicating with most previous versionservers recent version servers ROP ID SynchFolder SynchFolder New n/aIGNORE_MODE_ON_FAI parameters flag: if set, then for data objects, suchas FAI, that do not have a well defined set of header and/or body namedproperties, the email server component may respond to a transfer requestwith the entire data object regardless of the prevailing transfer mode.

Email messages are typically addressed to one or more email networkusers. An email message may be considered delivered if it is accepted byan email server component for storage. An email network may have severalemail server components. Typically, an email network protocol has somestrategy for limiting the number of email server components that anemail network user must check for new messages. A common example is thehome server strategy which provides that email messages addressed to aparticular email network user will only be accepted by one particularemail server component, called the user's home server. In such a case,an email client component may be configured to consider only the homeserver when, for example, periodically checking for new email messagesor registering for notification of new email messages.

FIG. 9 shows that even a simple home server strategy example may havecomplications. In the example illustrated by FIG. 9, a particular emailserver component 901 is first designated as the home server for aparticular email network user. Over time, the designated home server forthe user is changed to different email server components 903 and 905,typically for administrative reasons. The email server components 901,903 and 905 may, for example, be physically different, or logicallydifferent, or be different versions. Email client component 902 maycommunicate only with email server component 901 from time T₀ until timeT₁, then email client component 904 may communicate only with emailserver component 903 until time T₂, and then email client component 906may communicate only with email server component 905. The email clientcomponents 902, 904 and 906 may be the same or different. Email servercomponents 901 and 903 may or may not exist after time T₂. Thesecomplications are particularly relevant to email message storereplication which is discussed next.

Email messages may be stored by an email server component in an explicitemail message store which may, for example, be implemented using wellknown database technologies. An email server component may have one ormore such message stores. An email network user may have a home messagestore. Changing home message stores may have the same effects asdescribed for changing home servers.

Some email network protocols include an ability to replicate parts of anemail message store to a storage facility local to an email clientcomponent. Replication of parts of a remote email message store to alocal email storage facility may improve protocol performance and/orperceived protocol performance by, for example, replicating all newemail messages to the local email storage facility in advance of anexplicit email network user request to view them. Such replication mayalso provide additional email client component functionality, forexample, enabling an email network user to view an email message duringnetwork connectivity interruptions.

In an email network environment, simple replication may quickly becomeinefficient. For example, if an email server component has one emailmessage associated with a particular email network user and that messagehas already been replicated at the client component for the networkuser, and a new email message arrives for that email network user, thenit is still required that two email messages must be sent in response toa simple replication request. If another new email message arrives afterreplication of the two email messages, then it is still required thatthree email messages must now be sent in response to a simplereplication request and so on. Some email network protocols haveprovided for an incremental replication of email message stores toalleviate this problem. In an incremental replication, only changes toan email message store that occurred after a previous successfulincremental replication must be sent in response to a replicationrequest, for example, where the only change since the last successfulincremental replication is the arrival of a new email message, then onlythe new email message need be sent in response to an incrementalreplication request.

FIG. 10 shows a more detailed example of a protocol that provides forincremental replication. An email message store may be subdivided intoemail folders. Each email folder may be replicated independently of theothers, providing for a more fine-grained control over the replicationprocess. In this example, the incremental replication process is termedsynchronization because it includes the propagation of changes fromemail client component 501 to email server component 502 as well as fromemail server component 502 to email client component 501. Following asynchronization request 1001, a SynchFolder ROP is processed by emailserver component 502. The ROP includes a folderID parameter (not shown)and a stateblob₀ parameter. The folderID parameter identifies an emailfolder that is the target of the synchronization request 1001. Thestateblob₀ parameter contains information that allows email servercomponent 502 to determine what changes, if any, have occurred to theemail folder since it was last synchronized. If request 1001 representsthe first ever synchronization request for the target folder by emailclient component 501, then email server component 502 determines if thetarget email folder in the email message store has changed in comparisonto an empty folder. In response 1002 to request 1001, email servercomponent 502 sends any changes to email client component 501 includingany email messages and/or other data objects that have been added to thetarget folder and a list of any email messages and/or other data objectsthat have been deleted from the target folder. The email servercomponent 502 also creates a new stateblob₁ representing the state ofthe target folder as it will be on email client component 501immediately following the synchronization and also sends that stateblob₁in response 1002. When email client component 501 sends the nextsynchronization request 1003 for the same folder as in request 1001,then request 1003 will include as a parameter the same stateblob₁ thatwas returned with response 1002. As before, email server component 502will use the information contained in stateblob₁ to determine whatchanges, if any, have occurred in the target folder and send thosechanges along with a newly created stateblob₂ back to email clientcomponent 501 in response 1004.

If a stateblob data object is large in size, it may adversely effectprotocol performance because it is sent to and from an email servercomponent with, for example, every email folder synchronization request.In some email network protocols that provide for email foldersynchronization, the stateblob may, in large part, be made up of a setof message changeID data objects that identify changes to email messagesthat have been seen by an email client component. An email messagechange may be said to have been seen by an email client and/or servercomponent when the changed email message is transferred to thatcomponent.

One goal of a message changeID data object may be to uniquely identify achange to an email message in the context of an entire email network. Inan email network that employs a home server strategy, a user's homeserver may be responsible for associating a message changeID data objectwith a previously unseen email message change. For example, a homeserver may employ message changeID data objects comprising a serverIDdata object and a serial number. A serverID data object may uniquelyidentify an email server component in the context of an entire emailnetwork using well known techniques such as globally unique identifiers.Where such identifiers are themselves large in size, the serverID dataobject may instead be an index into an identifier lookup tablemaintained by the email server component. The serial number may beprovided by a counter, for example, six bytes in width, local to anemail server component, that is incremented whenever the email servercomponent accepts a previously unseen email message for storage.

For discussion purposes, a message changeID data object may berepresented by, for example, “S₁:1” where ‘S₁’ represents the serverIDdata object for a first email server component and ‘1’ represents aserial number. A set of message changeID data objects may be representedby for example, “S₁:1, S₁:2, S₁:3” where “S₁:1” “S₁:2” and “S₁:3” areconsecutive message changeID data objects employed by an email servercomponent with serverID S₁.

Where a stateblob is made up, in large part, of a set of messagechangeID data objects representing email message changes seen by anemail client component (a “Message Changes Seen” set), some techniqueshave been developed to encode the set in order to reduce its size, forexample, the set “S₁:1, S₁:2, S₁:3, S₁:4” may be encoded as “S₁:1-4”. Inaddition, an email server component may ensure that the serial numbersit uses are always increasing. In that case a non-contiguous MessageChanges Seen set, for example, “S₁:1, S₁:3, S₁:5, S₁:7”, may be encodedas “S₁:1-7”, that is, as a range including the minimum and maximumserial numbers, without loss of functionality.

In a scenario depicted by FIG. 9, a Message Changes Seen set may includemessage changeID data objects that were created by email servercomponents (e.g., S₁, S₂) other than the current home server (e.g., S₃).A message changeID data object created by the current home server may betermed a native message changeID, a message changeID data object createdby other email server components may be termed a foreign messagechangeID. Email network protocols for communicating with previousversion email server components have not provided for the optimizationof non-contiguous foreign message changeID sequences as a rangeincluding the minimum and maximum serial numbers on a per email servercomponent basis. The following table illustrates a benefit of includingsuch optimization in an embodiment of the present invention:

Optimization used by a most recent Optimization used by a version serverprevious version server (current home (current home server S₃) serverS₃) Message Changes Seen set S₁: 1, S₁: 3, S₁: 5, S₁: 7 beforeoptimization S₂: 1, S₂: 3, S₂: 5, S₂: 7 S₃: 1, S₃: 3, S₃: 5, S₃: 7Message Changes Seen set S₁: 1, S₁: 3, S₁: 5, S₁: 7 S₁: 1-7 afteroptimization S₂: 1, S₂: 3, S₂: 5, S₂: 7 S₂: 1-7 S₃: 1-7 S₃: 1-7

One embodiment of the present invention uses ROPs that include thecharacteristics set out in the table below to achieve thesynchronization of an email folder between an email server component andan email client component. An email server component may implement theimproved stateblob encoding technique with only a moderate increase incomplexity.

ROP result that may be ROP result that may be used by a protocol whenused by a protocol when communicating with communicating with mostprevious version servers recent version servers ROP ID SynchFolderSynchFolder Unchanged stateblob: optimization not stateblob: improvedparameters including non-contiguous optimization including non- used ina sets of foreign message contiguous sets of foreign new mode changeIDdata objects. message changeID data objects.

FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B depict a difference between a subprocedure thatmay be used by a previous version server and a most recent versionserver, respectively, to respond to a SynchFolder ROP. FIG. 11A showssteps 1101, 1102 and 1103. At step 1101, an initial Message Changes Seenset is constructed. At step 1102, members of the Message Changes Seenset that are native message changeID data objects are optimized. At step1103, the optimized Message Changes Seen set is added to the stateblobdata object that may be sent with a response to an email clientcomponent that requested the synchronization. FIG. 11B includesadditional step 1104 which shows members of the Message Changes Seen setthat are foreign message changeID data objects also being optimizedbefore the Message Changes Seen set, now with improved optimization, isadded to a stateblob data object in step 1103.

While subdividing an email message store into email folders does providefor a more fine-grained control over the synchronization process, itdoes not automatically provide for an improvement in protocolperformance and it may result in a degradation in protocol performance.For example, some protocols require that each message store folder besynchronized separately. Each synchronization operation typically hassome overhead and that overhead may be significant. Synchronizationsoperations that utilize stateblob data objects are an example ofoperations that may have significant overhead. In the case ofsynchronizing an entire message store, protocols that require eachmessage store folder to be synchronized separately may be at adisadvantage compared to protocols that require fewer synchronizationoperations.

Synchronizing an entire message store and maintaining synchronization isa desirable goal for an email client component. Conventional prior artemail client components have sought to achieve this goal even when itresulted in significant adverse impact on protocol performance. Anaspect of the present invention is that it is able to minimize adverseprotocol impact while achieving this goal by utilizing a deep hierarchytable. Conventional prior art email server components have not been ableto provide a deep hierarchy table.

Where email message stores are subdivided into email folders, thoseemail folders may be organized into hierarchies. FIG. 12 shows anexample of an email folder hierarchy. In FIG. 12, folder 1204 is asubfolder of folder 1203. Folder 1203 is, in turn, a subfolder of folder1202. Folder 1201 is a root folder. A root folder is not a subfolder ofany other folder. All other folders are members of the folder hierarchyrooted at folder 1201. Typically, each folder in a folder hierarchy doesnot have direct reference to every other folder. A folder may only havedirect reference to its subfolders. A folder may also have directreference to any folders of which it is a subfolder. In many cases, itmay be that the only folder for which every folder has a directreference is the root folder of the hierarchy.

A deep hierarchy table may contain information about every folder in afolder hierarchy. Each folder may have a row in the deep hierarchytable. The information in the deep hierarchy table is such that it maybe used to determine if the contents of an email folder has changedduring a particular time period. The determination of change to an emailfolder during a particular time period may be implemented using a simplecomparison of a copy of a folder's row taken at the beginning of thetime period, to a copy of that folder's row taken at the end of the timeperiod. In one embodiment, each row of the deep hierarchy table includesthe following attributes:

Attribute Name Attribute Type Notes Folder ID FID The FID type comprisesa global unique identifier (GUID) and a six byte serial number. Thisvalue may be used to uniquely identify an email folder in the context ofan email network. PR_LOCAL_COMMIT_TIME_MAX Timestamp This timestamp isupdated anytime the contents of the folder is modified.PR_DELETED_COUNT_TOTAL QWORD This value is a count of the total numberof items ever deleted from the folder.

Attributes of an email folder's row in a deep hierarchy table may beupdated whenever a change is made to the contents of a folder. Forefficient implementation of a deep hierarchy table update, applicantshave found that it is helpful to have quick and direct reference to thedeep hierarchy table. At a minimum, applicants have found that thereshould be a small and predictable number of levels of indirection whentrying to access the deep hierarchy table. For example, positioning adeep hierarchy table at an arbitrary level in a folder hierarchy wouldnot provide for a predictable number of levels of indirection. In oneembodiment of the present invention, a deep hierarchy table may beassociated with the root folder of an email network user's email messagestore folder hierarchy for this reason.

Communications between an email client component and an email servercomponent may be divided into communication sessions. Loss of emailmessage store synchronization may occur between sessions, for example,during a network connectivity interruption. In order to re-establishemail message store synchronization at the beginning of a communicationssession, some protocols for communicating with previous version emailserver components employed a SynchFolder ROP for each folder in thefolder hierarchy. Typically, the contents of some of the folders willnot have changed between sessions. A SynchFolder ROP with an unchangedfolder as its target results in a “null synch.” Although a “null synch”does not result in any folder changes being transferred to an emailclient component, it does still have an overhead associated with it, forexample, a stateblob data object, which may be significant.

FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment of the invention that avoids such“null synch” results by utilizing a deep hierarchy table. In a firstrequest 1301, email client component 501 sends a ROP (e.g.,GetHierarchyTable) requesting a deep hierarchy table to email servercomponent 502. In a first response 1302, a copy of the deep hierarchytable is provided to email client component 501. Typically, email clientcomponent 501 will have a previous copy of the deep hierarchy table.Email client component 501 may determine quickly which folders in user'semail message store on email server component 502 have changed byutilizing a row by row comparison of the two copies. Next, ROPs (e.g.,SynchFolder) are employed to synchronize only those folders that havechanged. Request 1303 and response 1304 may be repeated as necessary tosynchronize the changed folders. Following successful synchronization,the email client component's copy of the deep hierarchy table may beupdated to match the latest copy that was sent in response 1302. Ifemail client component 501 does not have a previous copy of the deephierarchy table, then all folders that have a row in the latest copy maybe synchronized.

Once synchronization of a user's email message store has beenestablished, synchronization may be maintained by periodically repeatingthe start of session steps described above (i.e., polling the emailserver component), but this scheme has disadvantages. For example, thepolling period may be much shorter than a period between changes to auser's email message store. In that case, relatively many of the deephierarchy table comparisons will indicate that no folders have changed.Such comparisons are, in effect, wasted effort, so a protocol that canavoid them may be more efficient.

Some email networks include a facility for an email client component tosubscribe to be notified by an email server component when, for example,the contents of a particular email folder changes. Some previous versionemail client components do use such a facility to maintainsynchronization of a user's email message store by creating a separatesubscription for change notifications associated with each folder in auser's folder hierarchy. In an embodiment of the present invention, anemail client component may create only a single subscription for changenotifications associated with the deep hierarchy table. A singlesubscription is more efficient because fewer ROPs are required toestablish it and less server-side resources are consumed.

With further reference to FIG. 13, when a most recent version emailclient component 501, in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention, employs a GetHierarchyTable ROP in a first request 1301 atthe beginning of a communications session with an email server component502, the email client component 501 is automatically subscribed tochange notifications associated with the deep hierarchy table that isreturned in response 1302. When a change occurs to an email folder in auser's email message store at the email client component, for example,an email message is added to the folder, the deep hierarchy table isalso updated as previously described. The change to the deep hierarchytable triggers a notification alert 1305 to email client component 501.While the notification alert is in response to the subscription placedby request 1301, it is not part of an explicit request-response cycle.Thus, use of the notification system as provided by the presentinvention results in much less overhead for the email network.

A single subscription may result in many notifications. In oneembodiment, the alert is delivered using a connectionless networktransport mechanism, for example, User Datagram Protocol/InternetProtocol (UDP/IP), but any suitable network transport mechanism may beused. In response to the alert, email client component 501 sends arequest 1306 containing a ROP (e.g., GetNotification) to email servercomponent 502. In response 1307, any changed rows of the deep hierarchytable (i.e., rows corresponding to a changed folder that triggered thenotification) are sent to email client component 501. Email clientcomponent 501 then employs ROPs (e.g., SynchFolder) to synchronize onlythe folders that have changed.

Multiple email client components may be subscribed for changenotifications associated with the same data object (e.g., the same emailfolder), for example, to provide collaborative functionality. Asillustrated by FIG. 18, email client components 1801, 1802 and 1803 aresubscribed for change notifications associated with the same data object(not shown) located on email server component 1804. Email clientcomponent 1803 sends a ROP 1805 to email server component 1804 thatresults in a change to the data object. As a result of the change, emailserver component 1804 sends out change notifications 1806, 1807 and 1808to email client components 1801, 1802 and 1803. Change notifications maycarry little information beyond identifying the data object that haschanged so that, for example, there may be no way for an email clientcomponent to determine that it was the cause of a particular change. Ifthe data object is, for example, an email folder, change notifications1806, 1807 and 1808 may result in each email client component 1801, 1802and 1803 initiating synchronization for the changed folder. Since emailclient component 1803 was, in this example, responsible for the change,the result will be a “null synch.”

For reasons previously discussed it may be desirable to eliminatesynchronizations that result in a “null synch.” However, thenotification behavior described may not always be undesirable and someemail client components may depend upon it. An aspect of the presentinvention is to provide for the ability of an email client component toconfigure a notification behavior of most recent version email servercomponents in order to improve protocol performance while at the sametime providing previous version email client components with unchangednotification behavior.

FIG. 19A depicts notification behavior that may be provided by previousversion email server components. FIG. 19B depicts configurablenotification behavior in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention. If desired, a most recent email client component may indicateto an email server component that it is capable of the notificationbehavior in FIG. 19B, for example by supplying a flag with a request, inthe example shown in FIG. 19B, an IGNORE_OWN flag.

At step 1901, the next candidate from the set of subscribers to benotified is selected. At step 1904, the subscription is examined for theIGNORE_OWN flag. If the flag is not present, step 1904 branches to step1902, where a notification is sent to the candidate subscriber. If theflag is found, step 1904 branches to step 1905, where the subscriptionis examined again to determine if the subscriber triggered thisnotification. This determination may be made, for example, by examininga communications session identifier (“session ID”) of the session thatwas used to place the subscription. A session ID, for example, maycomprise a global unique identifier and a six byte serial number. Thenotification is also examined for the session ID associated with itscause. If the two match, then the notification is suppressed. A resultis that an email client component that caused a notification will notalso receive that notification. The subprocedure then proceeds to step1903, described below.

If the subscriber did not trigger the notification, then the session IDassociated with the subscription is not the same as the session IDassociated with the cause of the notification, and step 1905 braches tostep 1902, where the notification is sent. The process then proceeds tostep 1903, where a determination is made whether there are moresubscribers to be notified. If there are, the subprocedure returns tostep 1901, otherwise this subprocedure is finished.

As stated above, an email client component utilizing cache storage ofemail messages may request, for example via a ROP, synchronization ofmessages or other data objects between a local client data store and thedata store available at the email server component. The email clientcomponent may similarly request messages to be copied from the serverstore to the client store. In either event, the request may be madeusing a fast transfer mode.

Typically, when messages or other data such as files are requested forsynchronization or copying, the request (e.g., ROP) includes anindication of all the messages for which synchronization is desired.This list may be automatically constructed by an email server componentby, for example, utilizing the stateblob feature described above. Forprevious version (prior art) email server components, an error in onemessage or data object in a ROP request would cause a failure of allitems in the request. This process is shown in FIG. 14A, where a requestcontaining a ROP (e.g., FXPrepare) is transmitted at step 1401 with amessageID set designated for copying or synchronization. A fast transfermechanism is set up at the email server component 502, and a fasttransfer ID is transmitted to the email client component 501 at step1402. The email client component 501 then requests copying orsynchronization of the data objects through a request containing, forexample, an FXGetBuffer ROP (step 1403). An error occurs with one ormore of the messages or other data objects when the email servercomponent 502 attempts to open the requested messages. Examples oferrors include a message or a data object being corrupt, server failure,the email server component 502 being out of memory, or a virus beingdetected for the data object.

After the error, the email server component 502 sends a fatal ROP errorin the data streamed to the email client component 501 at step 1404. Assuch, the synchronization fails, the messages within the messageID setare not synchronized or copied, and the stateblob or similar updateinformation is not received by the email client component 501. The emailclient component 501 then has to request the synchronization or copyingof the data objects at another time. It is possible that, if an error isnot fixed at the email server component 502, error messages may continueto be sent, and the messages within the messageID set may never besynchronized or copied.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, instead of afatal ROP error, a most recent email server component may send errorinformation regarding the particular data object (e.g., an emailmessage) so that synchronization for only that data object fails. Thisfeature permits messages or other data objects within a ROP or otherrequest to be transmitted and synchronized or copied even if a messageor other data object having an error is included within the response.

As one example of how to handle an object-specific error, a most recentemail server component may send an error message in a data stream forthe data object having an object error. In this example, for ease ofreference, the error is referred to as FXErrorInfo. If desired, asfurther described below, FXErrorInfo may include information such as themessage ID for the data object having the error, and additionalinformation regarding why the message failed.

FIG. 14B shows a synchronization in which an error occurs in a messageM₃. The error results in a FXGetBuffer response 1405 including messageM₁, and message M₂, followed by FXErrorInfo, and then message M₄. TheFXErrorInfo information permits the email client component 501 to knowwhich message had an error, and to synchronize all other messages withinthe response. If the error message FXErrorInfo includes informationabout the reason for the error, the information may be acted uponaccordingly by the client component, for example, by displaying an errormessage to a user.

The following table shows an example of the format that the FXErrorInfomay take:

FXErrorInfo Attribute Name Attribute Type Notes Version WORD The versionof this structure. Error code DWORD Message ID MID The MID typecomprises a global unique identifier (GUID) and a six byte serialnumber. This is the message ID of the message that caused the error. . .. . . . Zero or more attributes may be added here. Auxiliary Field SizeULONG The size of the array to follow. Auxiliary Field BYTE array Anunstructured array for communicating error details.

As can be seen, the example format includes a version attribute, anerror code, and a messageID. In addition, if desired, one or attributesmay be added. Further, as stated above, an auxiliary field may bedefined for communicating error details. As such, an attribute may bedefined for dictating the field size of the error details (e.g., anarray), and a field may be provided, which may be, for example, anunstructured array for communicating the error details. As stated above,the error details may be handled as desired by the email clientcomponent 501.

The FXErrorInfo permits the synchronization of the first response to becomplete, for example resulting in a stateblob or other informationbeing provided to email client component 501. Because the email clientcomponent is now synchronized through message M₄, the next request 1406for synchronization may result in a response 1407 having the messagesafter M₄ (e.g., M₅ and M₆).

To indicate that an email client component 501 is a most recent version,and thus is capable of handling the FXErrorInfo message, a flag may bedefined, for example, FXRecoverMode, that may be transmitted with a ROPrequesting synchronization or copying. Other indications may be used forthe email client component 501 to communicate to the email servercomponent 502 that it is capable of handling the FXErrorInfo message.

When the email server component 502 sends one or more messages or otherdata objects to the email client component 501, the data stream to theemail client component may be separated or defined by property tags(e.g., ptags). For example, a list of messages may include for eachmessage a start message ptag and an end message ptag. Between the startand end ptags may be a property list ptag and a subject ptag, which mayhave the property of a string. The subject ptag may be followed by thesubject itself. Other property tags may be included.

In the case where an error occurs in transmitting a message, theFXErrorInfo may be provided as a ptag, and may have binary properties,such as is defined by the table above. An example of a data streamfollows having both a successful message and a message in which an erroroccurs. In the case where the error occurs, the end message ptag is notused for that particular message and the ptag FXErrorInfo is the lastptag for that message.

  ptagMessageListStart  ptagMessageStart   ptagPropList    ptagSubject[PT_STRING]     “Re: Your email”   . . .  ptagMessageEnd ptagMessageStart   . . .   ptagFXErrorInfo [PT_BINARY]    [Contents asdescribed by table]  ptagMessageStart   . . .  ptagMessageEndptagMessageListEnd

FIG. 15A shows steps that an email server component 502 may utilize totransfer messages to a previous version email client component 501.Beginning at step 1501, the message set is prepared, for example byplacing the message set in the fast transfer data store. At step 1502,the message begins streaming out, for example immediately after beingplaced in the send buffer of the email server component 502. If an erroroccurs when streaming out the message, then a fatal ROP error isstreamed out to the email client component 501 in step 1504. Thesubprocedure then ends. If, when streaming the message, an error doesnot occur, then at step 1503 a determination is made whether moremessages are in the set. If so, the process loops back to step 1502,where the next message is streamed out. If not, then the subprocedureends.

FIG. 15B shows a procedure for handling a message set by a most recentversion of an email server component 502. The steps taken are differentdepending upon whether the email client component is a most recentversion or a previous version. Steps 1501-1504 are steps taken with aprevious version email client component, and are the same as the stepshaving the same reference numerals in the preceding paragraph.

If, at step 1502, an error is found in streaming the message, then adetermination is made at step 1505 whether the request includes a flag,such as FXRecoverMode. If the request contains the flag, then the emailclient component 501 is a most recent version, and step 1505 branches tostep 1506, where the FXErrorInfo is streamed out to the email clientcomponent 501. The process may then continue to step 1503. If therequest does not include the flag, then step 1505 branches to step 1504,where a fatal ROP error is streamed out. The subprocedure then ends.

As can be seen, the presence of the flag in the request permits thestreaming process to continue by allowing a streaming out of theFXErrorInfo instead of failing and sending a fatal ROP error. The flagis sent by a most recent version of an email client component 501.Previous versions of email client components do not include the flag,and thus an error results in streaming out a fatal ROP error, asdescribed above.

If desired, in an alternative embodiment, the error message (e.g.,FXErrorInfo) may be sent out for particular properties of a message orother data object, instead of for an entire message. For example,FXErrorInfo may be sent out for the body of a message, or for anattachment to a message. The email client component 501 may thensynchronize or copy properties that are successfully sent without anerror, and only the properties having errors are not synchronized orcopied.

Sometimes, a message or other data object may be of sufficient size thatit spans multiple FXGetBuffer responses. To handle such messages, theemail client component 501 may include rollback logic so that it maydispose of any partially received message and then proceed to properlyreceive further messages after receiving an error message.

At times, it may be desirable for an email client component to beprovided feedback regarding the progress of the copying orsynchronization of data objects such as email messages. In accordancewith one aspect of the present invention, a most recent version of anemail client component 501 may indicate that it is capable of handlingprogress modes, for example by sending a flag, such as PROGRESS_MODE toan email server component 502 when requesting synchronization or copyingof data objects. In response, a most recent version of an email servercomponent 502 may send a variety of information along with messages,such as the total size of all of the messages, the total number ofmessages, and total size of each messages, or any one or combination ofthese.

For example, as shown in FIG. 16A, for a previous version email clientcomponent 501, in response to a fast transfer request (1601 and 1603)for a set of messages, the email client component 501 receives themessages. In FIG. 16A, messages are received in two responses 1604 and1606. In previous version email client components 501 that use a fasttransfer mechanism, a progress indication of the messages being streamedto the client was not provided.

However, as shown in FIG. 16B, is a response 1607 to a request for amessage set by the email client component, the email server component502 may provide a total number of data objects to be transferred, andthe total size of all data objects to be transferred. This informationis represented by “P_(all)” in FIG. 16B. A most recent version of anemail server component 502 may also supply the size of each message,indicated by “P₁, P₂, P₃, . . . ” in FIG. 16B. In addition, if desired,the information associated with each message and with the entire groupof the messages may include additional information regarding whethereach message is FM or an actual email message. In one embodiment, theinformation represented by “P_(all)” in FIG. 16B is always sent inresponse to a fast transfer request, even if zero data objects aretransferred, in order to simplify processing of the data stream.

An example of a format for the size and number of all data objects beingtransferred is shown in the following table.

IncrSyncProgressMode Attribute Name Attribute Type Notes Version WORDThe version of this structure. (e.g., a 16 bit integer) cAssocMsgs DWORDThe number of FAI data (e.g., a 32 bit objects to be transferred.integer) llTotalAssocMsgSize QWORD The total size of all FAI data (e.g.,a 64 bit objects to be transferred. integer) cNormalMsgs DWORD Thenumber of email messages to be transferred. llTotalNormalMsgSize QWORDThe total size of all email messages to be transferred.

As can be seen, separate attributes may be defined for the number of FMdata objects, the total size of all FAI data objects, the number ofemail messages to be transferred, and the total size of all the emailmessages to be transferred. Other combinations and additional attributesmay be added to the format as desired.

The following table shows a format for the size and other informationthat may be supplied with each message.

IncrSyncProgressModePerMsg Attribute Name Attribute Type Notes MessageSize LONG The size of the next message. FAI flag BOOL Indicates if thenext message is FAI.

As can be seen, the format includes the size of the next message andwhether or not the next message is FAI.

FIGS. 17A and 17B show steps for streaming a message set in accordancewith a previous version of the email components, and a most recentversion of the email components, respectively. The steps in FIG. 17A aresimilar to steps 1501-1503 in FIG. 15A. For FIG. 17B, the PROGRESS_MODEflag has been sent, for example with a ROP, by a most recent emailclient component 501. After the message set is prepared at step 1701, adetermination is made whether the flag is present. If so, then theprogress data totals are sent in step 1702, and the process thenproceeds to step 1502, where the first message is streamed. If the flagis not present, then step 1701 branches directly to step 1502.

After the first message is streamed, the process proceeds to step 1703,where a determination is made if the flag is available. If so, then step1703 branches to step 1704, where the per message progress data isstreamed. The process then proceeds to step 1503, described earlier. Ifthe flag is not available, step 1703 branches directly to step 1503.

An example of the stream of data for a most recent server componentsending data to a most recent client component is set forth below. Thestream of data is similar to the stream of data described above, butadditionally includes ptags for progress totals data(ptagIncrSyncProgressMode), which may have, for example, binaryproperties. In addition, for each message, the per message progress datais supplied, for example, as ptagIncrSyncProgressModePerMsg.

  PtagIncrSyncProgressMode [PT_BINARY]  [Contents as described by table]ptagMessageListStart  PtagIncrSyncProgressModePerMsg [PT_BINARY]  [Contents as described by table]  ptagMessageStart   ptagPropList   ptagSubject [PT_STRING]     “Re: Your email”   . . .  ptagMessageEnd PtagIncrSyncProgressModePerMsg [PT_BINARY]   [Contents as described bytable]  ptagMessageStart   . . .  ptagMessageEnd PtagIncrSyncProgressModePerMsg [PT_BINARY]   [Contents as described bytable]  ptagMessageStart   . . .  ptagMessageEnd ptagMessageListEnd

In the example shown, the ptags including the progress totals data(ptagIncrSyncProgressMode) and the ptags for the message progress data(ptagIncrSyncProgressModePerMsg) are located before the list ofmessages, and before each message, respectively. However, the structureof the streaming of the data objects may be revised so that the progressdata may be included within the messages or within the message list. Itis further possible to revise the structure of the streaming of the dataobjects in order to eliminate ptags delimiting messages and/or messagelists entirely.

An email client component receiving the progress data may utilize thisdata to determine the progress of synchronization or copying of dataobjects from the email server component, and may utilize the per messageprogress data to determine the progress of each individual message. Thisinformation may be helpful, for example, in monitoring real timeinformation about the progress of a synchronization.

There are several different character sets that may be used for storingan email message or other data objects. For example, ASCII is mostcommonly used for storing English language characters. However, ASCII isnot sufficient for storing characters for all languages, because it isbased upon 8-bit characters. Thus, ASCII code can be used for only 256characters, which is enough for English but not enough for languagesthat have more characters. Unicode, on the other hand, is a characterset that uses 16 bits (two bytes) for each character, and therefore isable to include more characters than ASCII. Unicode can have 65,536characters, and therefore can be used to encode almost all the languagesof the world. Unicode includes the ASCII character set within it.

In general, previous versions of email client components 501 have adesignated code page, or character set and/or language associatedtherewith. For example, a particular version of an email clientcomponent 501 may have a German code page, and another version may havean ANSI code page. At times, it may be desirable for an email clientcomponent 501 to receive emails in character sets other than thedesignated code page. In accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention; a most recent client component may force an email servercomponent to provide all emails in Unicode. Once the emails are receivedby the email client component 501, the Unicode emails may be convertedto the client's code page, or may alternatively be maintained in Unicodeformat.

To indicate that an email client component 501 calls for emails to beprovided in Unicode, the email client component 501 may, for example,provide a flag, such as FORCEUNICODE, to the email server component 502.The flag may be provided with a request, such as a ROP. If the emailserver component 502 is a most recent version, the email servercomponent 502 can provide a Unicode version of the email, if available,or can convert email messages in other character sets to Unicode.

FIG. 20 shows steps for providing a particular character set for amessage in accordance with one aspect of the present invention.Beginning at step 2001, the email server component 502 retrieves amessage from its data store. At step 2002, a determination is madewhether the FORCEUNICODE flag is present. If not, then step 2002branches to step 2003, where the email server component 502 provides theemail message in the email client component's designated code page,converting if necessary.

If the FORCEUNICODE flag is present, then step 2002 branches to step2004, where a determination is made whether the message is stored asUnicode. If so, step 2004 branches to step 2005, where the message isprovided to the email client component 501 in the Unicode character set.If the message is not stored in Unicode, then step 2004 branches to step2006 where the message is converted to Unicode, and then the processcontinues to step 2005, where the message is provided to the emailclient component in Unicode.

All references, including publications, patent applications, andpatents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the sameextent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicatedto be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entiretyherein.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the invention (especially in the context of thefollowing claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and theplural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted bycontext. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing”are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, butnot limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of valuesherein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referringindividually to each separate value falling within the range, unlessotherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated intothe specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methodsdescribed herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwiseindicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The useof any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”)provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the inventionand does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unlessotherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construedas indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice ofthe invention.

Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, includingthe best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention.Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to thoseof ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. Theinventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations asappropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practicedotherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, thisinvention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subjectmatter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicablelaw. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in allpossible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unlessotherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. A system comprising: an email server component ofan email server computing system, the email server component configuredto receive a request from an email client component for delivery of atleast one message having a body to the email client component, therequest including an identifier of a body format preference, the bodyformat preference identifying a body format from among a plurality ofavailable body formats; wherein, for each of the one or more messages,the email server component selects a body formatted according to theidentifier.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the body of the at leastone message is formatted according to a markup language format.
 24. Thesystem of claim 23, wherein the markup language format comprises an HTMLformat.
 25. The system of claim 22, wherein selection of the body by theemail server component is limited to a body format selected from amongthe plurality of available body formats.
 26. The system of claim 25,wherein the email client component is configured to convert the body toa second format different from the body formatted according to theidentifier.
 27. The system of claim 22, wherein the identifier isincluded in the request as a BEST_BODY flag.
 28. The system of claim 22,wherein the at least one message further includes a header.
 29. Thesystem of claim 28, wherein the email server component is configured totransmit the header prior to transmitting the body of the at least onemessage to the email client component.
 30. The system of claim 22,wherein the email server component is configured to transmit the atleast one message to the email client component, wherein the at leastone message includes a header and the formatted body, the formatted bodybased on the identifier.
 31. A system comprising: an email clientcomponent of an email client computing system, the email clientcomponent configured to transmit to an email server component a requestfor delivery of at least one message having a body from the email servercomponent, the request including an identifier of a body formatpreference, the body format preference identifying a body format fromamong a plurality of available body formats; wherein, for each of theone or more messages, the email client component receives, in responseto the request, a body formatted according to the identifier.
 32. Thesystem of claim 31, wherein the at least one message is transmitted bythe email server component to the email client component.
 33. The systemof claim 32, wherein the email server component operates on an emailserver computing system remote from the email client computing system.34. The system of claim 31, wherein the body of the at least one messageis formatted according to a markup language format.
 35. The system ofclaim 34, wherein the markup language format comprises an HTML format.36. The system of claim 31, wherein the body of the at least one messageis formatted according to a body format selected from a group of emailmessage body formats comprising: a Rich text format (RTF); a HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP) format; and a plain text format.
 37. The systemof claim 31, wherein the identifier is included in the request as aBEST_BODY flag.
 38. The system of claim 31, wherein the body has anon-standard body format.
 39. The system of claim 38, wherein the emailclient component is configured to convert the body to a second formatdifferent from the body format selected based on the identifier.
 40. Acomputer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructionsstored thereon, which, when executed on a computing system, cause thecomputing system to perform a method comprising: generating a requestfor delivery of at least one message having a body, the requestincluding an identifier of a body format preference, the body formatpreference identifying a body format from among a plurality of availablebody formats; transmitting the request to an email server component; inresponse to the request, receiving the at least one message, wherein theat least one message includes a body formatted according to theidentifier.
 41. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the atleast one messages is transmitted by the email server component to theemail client component.